for the most part have gone on in their wicked Courses still and would have deny'd God in their Lives though their Understandings were never so clearly and fully convinc'd of his Will and Commandments as well as of his Eternal Power and God-head For as St. Paul testifies the Heathen themselves were not ignorant of the Being of God but when they knew God they glorify'd him not as God No Man can be more certain of any Inspiration which he can receive than he is of the Being of that God from whom he receives it and therefore he who denies the Being of God must by Consequence deny the Truth of any such Inspiration unless it have that powerful Impulse upon his Mind as both to convince him and force him to an Acknowledgement at once of the Being of God and of the Operation of his Spirit upon his Soul And it is hard to conceive how any Inspiration which doth not over-rule the Will and Affections as well as convince the Understanding should be of more Efficacy upon the Minds and Lives of such Men than the Notion of a God is For if Men can so stifle the Notion of a God in their Minds as to doubt whether there be any God or no or at least to act as if there were none no Reason can be given why they might not as well act against any Conviction which they might receive by Inspiration or any other way of immediate Revelation unless it had an irresistible Effect upon them and either take it all for Fancy and Delusion or else so harden themselves against it as not to be reclaim'd by it And of this we have Balaam for an Example who notwithstanding the Revelations he receiv'd from God loved the Wages of Vnrighteousness 2 Pet. ii 15. But above all Men the Prophane and Obstinate Unbelievers can have least Reason to expect that God should vouchsafe them an immediate Revelation (c) Vid. Smith of Prophecy c. 8. The Jews have observ'd That the Spirit of Prophecy rested only upon Men of regular and pure Affections of gentle and meek and tractable Dispositions For the Lord will be found of them that tempt him not and sheweth himself to such as do not distrust him for froward Thoughts separate from God into a malicious Soul Wisdom shall not enter nor dwell in the Body that is subject unto Sin For the Holy Spirit of Discipline will flee Deceit and remove from Thoughts that are without Vnderstanding and will not abide when Vnrighteousness cometh in Wisd 1 2 3 4 5. And to the same Purpose (d) Quis rerum divinarum Haeres sit Philo p. 404. Philo speaks And for this Reason when Joseph had the Interpretation of Dreams revealed to him (e) See Dr. Hammond on Psal cv 19. the Word of the Lord is said to try him or to purge to clear and justifie him it being evident that God would not in that Manner Inspire one who had been guilty of the Crimes which Joseph was accus'd of It is not to be imagin'd that God should further reveal himself to all such in particular by an immediate Inspiration who have rejected all the Manifestations which he has made of himself in the Creation and Government of the World but that he would reserve these immediate Revelations as peculiar Favours to his faithful and obedient Servants God has sometimes indeed made use of wicked Men Baalam Caiaphas c. as his Instruments both in Prophecies and Miracles to shew that they are at his Disposal and proceed from his Bounty not from any Worth or Merit of Men and that he can over-rule the Designs and Intentions of the worst of Men and make them serviceable to him even against their Will whenever he pleaseth But then these are peculiar Cases in which these Gifts were afforded for particular Ends and for the Benefit of others and the Men themselves were never the better for them But as for the Disobedient St. Paul acquaints us how in the general Dispensations of his Providence God dealt with them God gave them over to a reprobate Mind Rom. i. 28. and he there sets down a Catalogue of those Sins which were the Consequence of this Reprobation The Apostle all along maintains that they had so much Knowledge of God as to render them without Excuse and that they would make no Improvement of it to the attaining the Knowledge of the Laws of Nature first and then of his Revealed Will and it was the just Judgment of God to give them up to their own hearts lusts to abandon them to the Tyranny of their Sins since they would take no notice of his Works and would not abide his Counsels and it must needs have been highly inconsistent to send immediate Revelations or afford particular Inspiration to all such Men as are there describ'd God's Spirit will not always strive with man but he withdraws his ordinary Grace from those that abuse it and therefore it can never be presum'd he should confer higher Favours upon them If Men will believe upon reasonable Motives they have sufficient Means of Salvation allow'd them but if they will not believe without some immediate Revelation they are never like to have that in this World but in the next God will Reveal himself with Terror and Vengeance upon all the workers of iniquity God doth both by Nature and by Revelation provide for the Necessities for the Welfare and Happiness but never for the Humours and Peevishness of Men and those who will not be sav'd but according to some new Way and Method of their own Invention must be miserable without Remedy I doubt not but the greatest Infidels would own that if Christ should personally speak to them in a Voice from Heaven or appear to them upon Earth and grant them that Conviction which he once granted to St. Thomas or St. Paul they would believe in him as these Apostles did But they would do well to consider what Reason there can be why so much Favour should be shewn to those who reject with Scorn and Derision all the Tenders of Grace and Means of Salvation and what Obligation God can be under to save them in such a Manner as themselves shall prescribe who will not be sav'd in his Way and according to the Terms of the Gospel And if God should vouchsafe to make some immediate Revelation of himself to these insolent Offenders and Blasphemers of his Name and Authority how can we be assur'd that they would be converted Would they not rather find out some Pretence to perswade themselves that it was no real Revelation but the Effect of natural Agents or of Melancholy and of a disturb'd Imagination For those who have so long not only rejected that were a modest thing but derided and revil'd Moses and the Prophets nay the Apostles and our Saviour himself would not believe though one should rise from the dead They might be terrify'd perhaps for the present but they would soon stifle
their Carnal Appetites have concluded that the Body was made not by God but by a wicked Being and that the Soul only was from God Since therefore God is pleased to regard our Bodies as Members of Christ and Temples of the Holy Ghost it was requisite that in contradiction to these and such like Errors they should by some Rite or Sign be devoted to him by which it might be declared that Christ is the Saviour of the Body Ephes v. 23. and by which such Grace might be communicated as to render it the Temple and place of Residence of the Holy Ghost set apart and dedicated to him and inhabited by him that the whole Spirit and Soul and Body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes v. 23. It is the great and gracious Design of God to sanctifie the whole Man and therefore Christ took not only an Humane Soul but Humane Flesh likewise to dignifie it in the Assumption and offer it upon the Cross and translate it into Glory And as his Incarnation shews the particular Regard he has for the Body as well as for the Soul of Man so the whole Institution of the Gospel hath relation to both 4. Lastly The Sacraments are Foederal Rites of our Admission into the Church as into a visible Society and of our Union with it as such For we cannot be admitted into a visible Society nor communicate with it but by visible and outward Acts which must be performed in the Body So that whatever way we consider the Sacraments either in respect of God or of our selves or of others there is a necessary use and benefit from them and evident Reason for their Institution They are requisite as Symbols of our entrance into Covenant with God or of the Renewing and Confirmation of it and of Dedicating both our Bodies and Souls to his Honour and Service they are Instruments of his Graces and Pledges of his Promises made to us by Covenant and of the Reward and Happiness both of our Bodies and Souls at the Resurrection and are visible Marks and Evidences of our Profession as Members of the Church of our Admission into it and our Communion with it II. The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper fully answer the End and Design of the Institution of Sacraments After the coming of Christ and the fulfilling of the Ceremonial Law by him it was of no longer use or continuance the Gospel being to introduce a Spiritual Service by teaching Men to worship God in Spirit and in Truth Yet there was need of some external Ordinances or Sacraments the Nature of Man and the State of this World requiring them but that they might be as few as possible Christ has appointed but two Sacraments as generally necessary to Salvation and these the fittest and most expedient for the benefit and wants of Men. 1. As to Baptism the Reasons and Designs in the Institution of Sacraments are all visible in it It is a very significant and apt Representation of the cleansing and purifying the Soul from Sin and in this Men of all Nations and of all Religions seem to have been agreed For nothing was more frequent among the Heathens than their Washings and Purifications and tho' they attributed a great deal too much to them yet the superstitious Opinion which they had of these outward Cleansings could never have so universally prevail'd if there had not been some Foundation for the use of them in the Nature of Things and that is the great fitness which is in these outward Washings to excite us to purity of Mind and to represent the great Duty which lies upon us to keep our Consciences undefiled which only can render us accepted with God And as these Washings and Purifications were common in other Religions so the Jewish Church was wont to receive Proselytes or Converts by Baptism for which Custom they alledge the command of God to Moses Exod. xix 10. but (i) Hebr. Talmud Exercit. on Matt. iii. 6. Dr. Lightfoot sets it higher and thinks it was begun by Jacob Gen. xxxv 2. And our Saviour who both in his Words and Actions throughout the whole Gospel condescended to a compliance with the Customs in use among the Jews so far as they might be serviceable to the ends of the Gospel was pleased to make choice of Baptism for the Admission of Persons to the Profession of his Religion as the Jews used it for the Admission of their Proselytes Baptism is very agreeable to the Nature of the Christian Religion being a plain and easie Rite and having a Natural significancy of that Purity of Heart which it is the design of the Gospel to promote and establish in the World and it is fitted to represent to us the cleansing of our Souls by the Blood of Christ and the Grace of Purity and Holiness which is conveyed in this Sacrament and the Spirit of Regeneration which is conferred by it John iii. 5. Tit. iii. 5. And it being in use both amongst Jews and Gentiles it was so much the more proper because both had already an Opinion of the expediency of it Christ came to abolish the Ceremonies of the Jewish Law and the vain and idolatrous superstitions of the Heathen Worship and yet some outward Rite of Worship was necessary to be made use of to dedicate the Body as well as the Soul to God's Honour and Service to be a Pledge of the Resurrection of the Body as well as of the Immortality of the Soul to put Men in mind of that Integrity and Purity of Life which the Gospel requires and to be a means of conveying it and to admit them as visible Members into the Church And as Baptism was very expedient to be Instituted upon all these Accounts so it had this peculiar advantage beyond any other Rite that it was already in great use and esteem and could seem strange neither to Jews nor Gentiles but it had been a very strange thing to both and very unsuitable to the Nature of Man if the most Spiritual and Heavenly Religion that can be on this side Heaven had been instituted without any external Rite for the Admission into it this had been to suppose the Church to consist of Angels and not of Men who have need of Assistance from outward Objects in their highest Acts of Religion it had been to make Men to suspect that the Body as some Hereticks imagined was little regarded of God if no notice had been taken of it at our Reception into Covenant with him and it besides had been to contradict the Notion which Mankind have ever had of Religion and to give the highest scandal both to Jews and Gentiles 2. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is so often the subject of Sermons and of every good Christians Meditation that very little needs to be here said of it For it is evident that the Elements of Bread and Wine have a peculiar suitableness to
in one place rather than in another or why it should think when it is moved in a Right Line or in a Circle or in any Curve Line rather than when it lies still Again There is no reason why Matter should be able to think or not think according to its Situation or Position why it should think in the Brain rather than upon the Trencher or when it is digested and reduced to Animal Spirits rather than when it is in a more compacted Substance and has a different relation to the parts of Matter about it Lastly If any sort of Figure could produce Thought Stones must certainly think as well as the best of us and so indeed might any thing else for what Body is there that may not subsist under all varieties of Figure Neither can any lucky conjuncture of all these together produce a Power and Faculty of Thinking For imagine what Bulk Rest or Motion Situation and Figure you can to meet together they are all alike uncapable of so much as one Thought since there is nothing in the Nature of any of these Accidents or Modifications of Matter but it is as far from any Power of thinking as Matter it self is and therefore Thinking can no more arise from a combination of them together than it can proceed from the amassing together of Matter All the Accidents but Motion have nothing Active or Operative in them but are only Matter under different Modes and Relations And Motion whatever the Figure or Bulk and Contexture of any Body may be can be but Motion still and suppose what Contexture or Modifications you will what is Motion under all Determinations Collisions and Combinations but change of Place And how can change of Place produce Thinking under any variety of Contexture in the Particles of Matter Free-will is impossible to be accounted for by Matter and Motion as Epicurus found who was therefore forced to have recourse to his Declinationes Atomorum for which he is so justly exposed by Tully For neither can Matter determine its own Motion nor can Motion determine it self but must be determined by something External whereas all men find it in their power to determine themselves by an Inward and voluntary Principle It is true indeed that the Soul in its Operations depends very much upon the Temperament of the Body yet the Soul even in this state has Thoughts which have no Relation to the Body or any Material Thing as Thoughts of God and Spirits it s own Reflex Thoughts or Consciousness of its own Operations And if it were now capable of no Thoughts but such as have some dependance upon the Body yet this can never prove that the Soul it self is Material or that Matter Thinks A Man writes with his Pen and cannot write without one Is it therefore his Pen properly that writes and not the Man The Body is the Instrument of the Soul in its Operations here and as the Instrument is fit or unfit so must its Operations be more or less perfect But it is strange that the chief part of us should be of such a Nature that we can form no Idaea of it We may form an Idaea of it though but an imperfect one And do we not know that the Eye the noblest part of the Body cannot see it self but imperfectly and by Reflexion And let any Man try whether he can form a better Idea of a Materal Soul than of an Immeterial one But this Writer by Idaea seems to mean a Material Idea or Imagination and we cannot indeed form a material Idea of an Immaterial Spirit Yet after all which he or any Man else has said the Nature of the Soul is as clearly understood as that of the Body and there is nothing encumbred with greater Difficulties than Extension if that be the Essence of Matter and if that be not it is as hard still to know what the Essence of Matter is The Instance which he brings of Brutes is easily answered Whether they can think or not If they cannnot the Objection falls of it self If they can I should rather suppose that their Souls may be annihilated or may transmigrate and pass from one Brute to another than that the Souls of Men must be Material that the Souls of Brutes may be Material too Another Gentleman of late has asserted (u) Mr. Locke 's Hâ—mane Vnderstanding l. 4. c. 3. §. 6. That it is impossible for us by the Contemplation of our own Idea's without Revelation to discover whether Omnipotency hath not given to some Systems of Matter fitly disposed a Power to Perceive or Think Letter to the Bishop of Bercrâ—â— p. 65. and That there is a Possibility that God may if he pleases super-add to Matter a Faculty of Thinking which is what he likewise calls a Modification of Thinking or Power of Thinking But it seems not intelligible how God should super-add to Matter this Faculty or Power or Modification of Thinking unless he change the Nature of Matter and make it to be quite another thing than it is or join a Substance of another Nature to it But the Question is Whether a Faculty of Thinking can be produced out of the Powers and various Modifications of Matter And we can have no more conception how any Modification of Matter can produce Thinking than we can how any Modification of Sound should produce Seeing all Modifications of Matter are the same as to this Point and Matter may as well be made Matter by Modifying as be made to Think bâ— it This is just as if a Man should maintain That though all Immaterial Substances are not extended and divisible yet some of them may possibly be or Omnipotence may super-add to them a Faculty of Extension and Divisibility for Immeterial Substances may become Divisible and Material by the same Philosophy by which we may conclude that Matter may Think which is the same thing as to become Immaterial and to surpass all the Powers and Capacities of Matter But though I have upon this occasion mention'd this Gentleman here yet it would be a great Injury done him to rank him with the Authors of The Oracles of Reason There is prefix'd to the Pieces an Account of the Life and Death of that unhappy Gentleman Mr. Blount with a pretence to vindicate his Murther of himself because his deceased Wife's Sister refused to be marry'd to him by all the Topicks and Arguments of Reason and Philosophy Which is such an Vndertaking as I am confident was never heard of before to prove that a Man may very gravely and Philosophically kill himself if a Woman whom he ought not to marry will not be his Wife It is strange to see that Men should think it fit to vent such things as these in the Face of the World but this discovers the Reason and Philosophy of these Men and is a fit Preface to such a Book This Wisdom descendeth not from Above Behold the Men in their Principles and Practices the
Watches for Animals and could not imagine how men could hold correspondence at a distance by a little piece of Paper What man is there among the Vulgar that can conceive how the dimensions and distances of the Sun and Stars can be taken and how the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and of the Satellites of Jupiter can be calculated And is not the knowledge of the wisest man upon earth infinitely more surpass'd by the Divine Wisdom than his Knowledge can excel that of the greatest Idiot III. Those who disbelieve and reject the Mysteries of Religion must believe things much more incredible I. He that will not believe the Being of an Eternal God must believe Matter to be eternal for it is certain something must be eternal because nothing could produce nothing and unless there always had been something there never could have been any thing But this Eternal Matter must either have been once without Motion or always with it if it were once without Motion then Matter must move itself that is Motion must be produced without any thing to produce it If it were always in Motion then there must have been an eternal Succession since Motion cannot be all at once for the very nature of Motion supposes Progression and no Body can move in this space and the next at the same instant for then it must be in two places at once But all Succession of Duration is gradual and the Degrees of it are capable of being numbred and to suppose an Eternal Succession is to suppose an Infinite Number that is a Number to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be substracted or a Number which is no Number Motion therefore could not be Eternal and consequently the World could not exist from Eternity But since there must be something Eternal there must be something the duration whereof is indivisible or which has all its existence together so as to have existed now no longer than it had done before the Beginning of the World For this is the notion of Eternity that it has neither Beginning nor End and therefore things eternal never had a less or shorter duration than they now have and can never have a longer after millions of Ages than they had the first year or day from whence we may be supposed to begin the computation of those Ages For a longer or shorter Duration must suppose a Beginning from whence the computation is made and therefore that which is eternal and had no Beginning can have neither a longer nor a shorter Duration but always the same and by consequence Time can bear no proportion to Eternity because that which had a Beginning can bear no proportion to that which had none Yet Eternity must coexist with Time in all the differences and successions of it and must be present with every part of it that is the Eternal Being exists the space suppose of a thousand years and a Temporal or Created Being exists at the same time as long and the Temporal Being becomes a thousand years older than it was but the Eternal no older than it was before because tho it coexist with Time yet it has no respect to the division of it into Past Present and Future There is no Mystery in Religion more difficult and perplexing than this and yet this is no more than what every one tho he be a Deist or an Atheist must acknowledge to believe if he will but consider it 2. Whoever believes that there is a God and yet believes no Revelation or that the Scriptures are not by Revelation from him must believe a God and yet deny the Divine Attributes he must believe that there is a God * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Alex. contr Julian lib. 8. who is not essentially just and good and holy which is in effect to believe no God at all as I have proved at large in the former Book Much more might be said upon so copious a subject but this is enough to make us more humble and modest in judging of the Divine Mysteries For shall poor Mortals who know so little and that little so imperfectly presume to censure the Holy Scriptures because they contain things which they cannot understand Shall he that cannot fully explain the Nature of the vilest Infect reject what God hath delivered concerning himself because he doth not comprehend it The thoughts of mortal men are miserable and our devices are but uncertain For the corruptible Body presseth down the Soul and the earthly Tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us but the things that are in heaven who hath searched out Wisd 13 14 15 16. But * Ld Bacon ' s Advancement of Learning B. 3. c. 2. out of the contemplation of Nature and out of the Principles of humane Reason to discourse or earnestly to urge a point touching the mysteries or Faith and again to be curiously speculative into those secrets to ventilate them and to be inquisitive into the manner of the mystery is in my judgment not safe Da fidei quae fidei sunt For the Heathens themselves conclude as much in the excellent and divine Fable of the Golden Chain that Men and Gods were not able to draw Jupiter down to the Earth but contrarywise Jupiter was able to draw them up to Heaven Wherefore he laboureth in vain who shall attempt to draw down Heavenly mysteries to our Reason it rather becomes us to raise and advance our Reason to the adored Throne of Divine Truth CHAP. II. Of Inspiration ALl the Motion of Material things is derived from God and the best account which those who have the most studied the nature of Motion have been able to give of it is only this that it is an effect of the Divine Power manifesting itself according to certain Laws or Rules which God has been pleased to prescribe for the communication of Motion from one Body to another And it is at least as conceivable by us that God doth act upon the Immaterial as that he acts upon the material part of the World and highly reasonable to suppose that he concerns himself with our Souls much more than with our Bodies There is no doubt to be made but that separate and unbodied spirits have ways of of conversing or communicating their thoughts to one another indeed all the communication and discourse that is among men in this world is properly between their Souls which use their Bodies as instruments for the conveyance of their Thoughts and Notions from one to anoand as their Bodies are more or less fit and serviceable to this end so their discourse is more or less easily convey'd and therefore Souls when they are at Liberty from these Bodies must have a Power to communicate their
c. 7. in Ceylon the Noya will stand with half his Body upright for two or three hours together (q) See Mr. Mede lib. 1. Disâ—â— xli These may be for Monuments of the Truth of the Curse upon the rest as some of the Race of the Giants were left in the Land of Canaan till David's time as a Memorial to the Israelites of the Miraculous Power of God in the Conquest of the Land by their Forefathers The Curse of the Ground was for a Punishment to Adam and his Posterity and can be considered no otherwise nor be made matter of Objection unless it be thought unreasonable to inflict a Curse upon Mankind for this Offence of eating the Forbidden Fruit by making the Earth less fruitful and pleasant to them Tho' the Garden of Eden were the most delightful and happy Part of the Earth yet the whole Earth before the Fall was very different from what it has been since For if it had continued as it was the Curse and Punishment upon Mankind could not have been effected in that manner in which it was determined 2. Our First Parents were turned out of Paradise and not suffered to taste of the Tree of Life They had been charged not to eat of the Fruit in the midst of the Garden and Threatned with Death that is that they should become Mortal and be sure to die if they would presume to eat of it To be subject to Misery both in Body and Mind so that the Body should decay and at last be dissolved and the Soul which could not Perish should be miserable after its separation from the Body was the Original Notion of Death and our First Parents who had never feen what Natural dying was understood Death no otherwise than as a Privation of Happiness and consequently a State of Misery both in this Life and the next The first was unavoidable the latter to be avoided by Repentance and a future Obedience thro' Faith in God's Mercy for Christ's sake They were hindred from tasting of that Tree which was to have been the Means and Instrument of Immortality to them For God who has given a Medicinal Vertue and a Power of Nourishment to other Fruits and Herbs might convey a Power and Influence into this Tree of rendring Men Immortal by preventing the decays of Nature and Nourishing or Strengthning them to an endless Life How this should have been we are now no more able to know than to become immortal here upon Earth But this was God's Decree that Immortality should be annext to the tasting of that Tree and therefore our First Parents when they had incurred the Penalty of Death were not suffered to taste of it but were forced out of Paradise and it was just that they should be hindred from enjoying any longer the Delights of Paradise for the Transgression of a Commandment which wantonness only and a vain and criminal Curiosity could make them disobey We are able to give little more Account how the Food we now eat can nourish and sustain us from time to time for Threescore and Ten or Fourscore Years than how the Fruit of the Tree of Life should have been a preservative to keep Men alive for ever only this we have the Experience of and so fancy we can tell how it comes to pass but that is strange to us and what is strange Men wonder at and will hardly believe it But since God has endued our ordinary Food with a power of Nourishment no man can reasonably doubt but that he might endue this Fruit with such a Vertue that it should have made men immortal to Taste of it and have prevented that decay of Nature which now still creeps upon us in the use of other Food We may well suppose that if they had once tasted of this Fruit they should have suffered no Decay but have lived in constant Vigour here tho' partaking afterwards only of other Nourishment till they had been translated to Heaven Or it might be design'd not as a Physical but a Sacramental Cause of Immortality that is as a Sign and Pledge of Immortality God having decreed that upon the Tasting of this Fruit Adam and his Posterity should have been immortal But the Forbidden Fruit being of a most delicious Taste as well as pleasant to the Eyes and containing a very fermenting Juice might put the Blood and Spirits into great Disorder and thereby divest the Soul of that Power and Dominion which it had before over the Body and by a closer and more intimate Union with Matter might reduce it to that miserable Condition which has been propagated and derived down to Posterity with the Humane Nature from our First Parents as some Poysons now strangely affect the Nerves and Spirits without causing immediate Death but make such Alterations in the Body as are never to be cured And it could not be fitting that Man should become immortal in this Condition or that the Threatning of God however should not take place From what has been hitherto said upon this Subject I hope it is evident that there can be no necessity of running to Allegorical Interpretations to explain the Fall of our First Parents And indeed all the Reason that can be given why it is represented under an Allegory will rather prove the Litteral Sense For if the Simplicity and the Customs and Manner of Life in the Beginning of the World did require that the Fall of our First parents should be describ'd under an Allegory of this Nature for the very same Reasons we may suppose that the Fall was in this manner For what is it which makes it seem improbable but only its being disagreeable as some Men conceit to Reason But if it be absurd to suppose that such a thing should have been in the Beginning of the World why is it not as absurd that such a thing should be represented to those who liv'd at the beginning of the World as if it had been If this was then the most fitting and proper Representation of the Fall why was it not the most likely manner for it to happen by God's Dispensations are always fitted to the Capacities and Circumstances of those who are most concern'd in them and the Devil in his Temptations applies himself to the Circumstances of those whom he would seduce And it cannot be conceiv'd that the most remarkable Thing that ever has befaln Mankind except the Redemption of the World by Christ should so come to pass as not to be told to Posterity but in an Allegory For if the Litteral Truth had ever been known it was impossible it should be forgotten in so few Generations and that Moses should put an Allegory in the room of it Did the Children of Israel know the Historical Truth of the Fall or did they not know it If they did why should Moses disguise it under an Allegory rather than the rest of the Book of Genesis If they did not know it how could it be forgotten
impossible to conceive The Immortal and ever-blessed God can be subject to nothing of passion or frailty The Godhead is uncapable of any imperfection and therefore uncapable of receiving any impressions of Sufferings from the Humane Nature as the Soul doth from the Body of Man So that tho' the Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ be fitly explain'd by that between the Soul and the Body in Man yet the manner of acting is very different For Finite Beings can mutually act and be acted upon by each other in their several actions and passions but the Divine Nature of Christ being impassible could suffer nothing by all that was inflicted on the Humane but remain'd infinitely Happy and Glorious under all the Torments and Agonies endur'd by our Saviour both in his Soul and Body As God is pleas'd to aid and assist and support innocent and good Men in their sufferings and to direct and conduct them thro' the course of their Lives So God was not only present with the Humane Nature of Christ but was so united to it as to become one Person with it which since the Godhead could suffer nothing from it is no more unworthy of God than if he had only guided him with his Spirit as he did the Prophets without any personal Union There is no inconvenience or absurdity in believing that God should by the most intimate and personal Union become united to a Man who did weep and bleed and die For as God by this Union did not change the Nature he had assumed or prevent the Sufferings of it so he did not partake in them No Man can deny â—upon Principles of Philosophy but that it is very reasonable to believe that God may afford a more peculiar presence to one Man than to another and that this Man may yet be subject to Afflictions and therefore the Son of God might become united to the Soul and Body of Christ in as intimate a manner as the Soul and Body are united to each other in us and yet this union of the Divine Nature might not preserve the Humane from the Sufferings incident to the rest of Mankind but must leave it to submit to them tho' they were never so grievous when this was the very End and Design of the Union It was not below the Majesty of God to be Personally united to a most Innocent and Sinless and Holy Man tho' he was a Suffering and Afflicted Man and it is not the Personal Union as some are apt to conceive which could be any diminution to God's Glory but their own error and mistake in what they surmise would be the consequence of such an Union II. The Humiliation of the Son of God in assuming our Nature may be accounted for without supposing that the Godhead suffer'd It was the greatest condescension and humiliation in the Son of God to take upon him our Nature For it is a gracious and merciful condescension for him to take care of us by his Providence God humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in the Earth Ps cxiii 6. But some times and in some places he is in a more peculiar manner present upon Earth and that is an extraordinary condescension tho' he is always the same in himself and never the less present or the less happy in Heaven But it was the most wonderful condescension in God to unite himself to our Humane Nature and to become one Person with it and so to die for us tho' his Divine Nature did not and could not suffer but only the Humane Nature to which it is united He was not ashamed to call Men his Brethren and in all things to be made like unto his Brethren Hebr. ii 11 17. but vouchsafed to assume our Nature in its lowest Condition and to be so strictly and personally united to the most afflicted of all the Sons of Men as to ascribe all his Sufferings to himself for the benefit of all Mankind It is the Infinite Mercy of God to vouchsafe us the comfort of his presence in any way or measure but it is the most astonishing and adorable act of his goodness that he would be pleas'd so far to condescend as to take our very Nature upon him that he might be born and might die for our sakes And that which magnifies his mercy and goodness in the highest measure is certainly most worthy of the good and merciful God III. The satisfaction of Christ by dying for our Sins may be explain'd without supposing that the Godhead suffer'd The Christian Faith is That as the Reasonable Soul and Flesh is one Man so God and Man is one Christ and that this Person consisting both of God and Man united suffer'd for our Salvation But that all the Sufferings were inflicted on the Humane Nature and terminated in it But by vertue of the Personal Union of his Divine with his Humane Nature all Christ's Sufferings receiv'd an infinite value and merit and became entituled and ascrib'd to God himself because they were undergone by that Person who is God as well as Man tho' they were not undergone by him in his Divine but only in his Humane Nature Thus God is said to have purchas'd his Church with his own blood Acts xx 28. For Actions and Passions in any person are Personal and are attributed to the whole person and sometimes those Actions and Passions which can be perform'd in one of those Natures only which constitute a person are yet attributed to the other Nature which is uncapable of them otherwise than by that relation which results from the union of both Natures whereby all things that befall the person may be affirmed of it as such and therefore have respect to both the Natures of which it consists and may be apply'd to it under the denomination of either of them All the Souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy Souls Exod. i. 5. If a Soul touch any unclean thing Lev. v. 2. And the Soul that eateth of it shall bear his Iniquity Lev. vii 18 20. In these and many other places of Scripture Actions and Passions peculiar to the Body are by reason of the union of the Soul and Body attributed to the Soul Nay both in the Hebrew and the Greek Text the Soul is sometimes put for the Body even of a dead Man Lev. xxi 11. xxii 4. in which sense (x) On the Creed Art v. Bishop Pearson explains Acts ii 27. Ps xvi 10. And in other places the Body or Flesh is often taken for the whole Man and that is attributed to it which the Flesh is of it self uncapable of The Flesh distinctly considered and apart from the Soul can neither Sin nor Pray nor Understand nor Worship nor partake of the Spirit nor be Justified and yet all these things are ascribed to the Flesh without any mention made of the Soul All Flesh had corrupted his way upon the Earth Gen. vi 12. O thou
manner what our inward Faith and Resolutions are This is that sort of security which Men have of one another and when God makes a Covenant with Men he considers them as Men that is he appoints such Solemnities of it as have respect to the Body as well as to the Soul he doth not deal with us as with immaterial Spirits but as with Creatures consisting of Soul and Body and who little regard and are little affected with that which doth not some way concern the one as well as the other And it is strange to see to what Extravagancies those have proceeded who have set up for a purely Spiritual Worship without any thing Sacramental for a visible Sign in it For not to mention the Pretensions of our Enthusiasts who by decrying the use and necessity of Sacraments have made Religion nothing but an empty and uncertain Name amongst them Prophyry who was a Man of Study and Learning after he had Apostatiz'd from the Christian Religion upon a ridiculous Occasion as History relates it was ashamed to return to the Heathen Idolatry which after the appearance of Christianity in the World soon became too notoriously absurd and abominable for any Man pretending so much to Reason and good Sense to own it but he placed all Divine Worship in Mental Prayer and so far rejected all outward and Bodily Worship (g) Porphyr de Abstinent lib. 2. §. 34. that he pretended the Prayers of Men were polluted and defiled by any thing of that Nature and rendred unacceptable to the Deity and that they never were sufficiently pure and perfect if they were express'd by the Voice but were then in their highest degree of Perfection when they were all Contemplation and Rapture and Extasie And the very same Notions were taught by (h) Euseb Praepar Evang. lib. iv c. 13. Apollonius Tyanoeus and have been revived of late by such as undervalue all outward Ordinances which may be a Warning to others and an Evidence of the Divine Wisdom in appointing Sacraments as outward and visible Signs of our Covenant and Communion with God 2. As these outward Signs serve to raise our Attention and fix our Minds and to put us in Remembrance that Heaven and Earth Angels and Men are Witnesses against us if we prove treacherous and unfaithful in this Covenant so they are as Tokens and Pledges to us of God's Love and Favour and of his merciful and gracious Intentions towards us in taking us into Covenant with himself they give us sensible and visible Assurances of that Grace which is invisible and Spiritual And this seems but necessary for Creatures that are led so much by Sense as we all are in this Life that God together with his Word and Promises should besides appoint something which may be perceiv'd by our Bodily Senses in Token of those Blessings which are bestow'd upon the Soul that what is no Object of Sense may yet be represented and signified by something that is sensible to bring as far as it is possible the most Divine and Heavenly things down to our very Senses which may be a Sign and Token of present Grace and Favour and a Pledge and Earnest of future Glory and Happiness And this is what is found very useful and necessary amongst Men who are better contented with something present and in hand tho' of little value and insignificant in itself as a Token and Pledge of what is promised and made over to them than they are with the greatest Promises and Protestations without any thing as an Earnest to confirm them because this is a Natural Evidence that they are indeed in Earnest as our English word expresses it and really intend what they say and it may be produced against them if they should fail of Performance Now what is inward and invisible is absent as to Sense and what is future has need of something present to represent it to us And God who was pleased to bind himself even by an Oath for our farther Comfort and Trust in him has been pleased likewise that he might be wanting in nothing which might help our Infirmities and assist our Faith he has been pleased in condescention to the Condition and Frailty of Humane Nature to appoint visible Signs and Pledges of that which is Invisible and to give all the Assurance to our very Senses that they are capable of that all the Promises of his Spiritual Blessings and Graces shall as certainly be fulfilled to us as the outward Signs and Pledges are appointed for us and duly received by us 3. Sacraments are not only Signs and Tokens of Spiritual Gifts and Graces but they are ordained as Means and Instruments of Grace and Salvation to us that as the Body partakes in the Moral Actions of Vertue and Vice so it might concur in the Religious Acts ordained for our Sanctification For God who has made us so as to consist of Soul and Body and to have the Vital Union between Soul and Body depend upon a fit Disposition of the Body and to be maintained by the Health and Nourishment of it has been pleas'd to appoint certain Bodily Actions as the Means and Instruments of our Spiritual Life that the Soul might not even in this Case where itself is more immediately concern'd be wholly independent of the Body but that since both must be either happy or miserable together in the next Life both might concurr in the way and means of Salvation in this yet so as that the Soul should be the first and principal Agent and the Body should act only in subordination and subserviency to it in this as it doth in other Cases that as in Moral Actions the Soul acts vertuously or viciously by the Body so in Spiritual Actions the Soul might receive Advantage and Benefit by Bodily Acts and be deprived of it upon the Omission or Neglect of such Acts. The Body without the Soul is not the Man nor the Soul without the Body but both Soul and Body together and the whole Man becomes dedicated and consecrated to God's Worship and Service in the use of Actions performed outwardly in the Body And it is requisite that the Body as well as the Soul should be thus dedicated to God in Token of the Resurrection of the Body and of that Happiness which it must receive in Heaven if the Soul be happy St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians to glorifie God in their Body as well as in their Spirit 1 Cor. vi 20. he tells them that the Body is not for Fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the Body know ye not says he that your Bodies are the members of Christ what know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost There have been those in several Ages who have made such high Pretences to Spiritual Worship that they would allow the Body no part or share in it and others from the great irregularity and corruption which they could not but observe in
became so much admired and magnified by the people that they brought forth the sick into the Streets and laid them on Beds and Couches that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might over-shadow some of them There came also a multitude out of the Cities round about unto Jerusalem bringing sick Folks and them which were vexed with unclean spirits and they were healed every one Acts v. 15 16. And in this manner the Apostles continued several years in Jerusalem doing Miracles upon all occasions and before all people And the same miraculous power manifested it self at Ephesus where God wrought special Miracles by the hands of Paul so that from his Body were brought unto the Sick handkerchiefs or aprons and the diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went out of them Acts xix 11 12. So impossible was it for the Apostles to deceive those before whom their Miracles were so frequently and publickly wrought And yet it must be much more impossible if any thing more impossible can be supposed to deceive those upon whom their Miracles had the effect of restoring to them the use of their feet their sight and their health and even of raising them again from the dead And indeed none of the Adversaries of old of the Christian Religion ever denied but that Miracles were wrought by the Apostles they only disputed the Power by which they were wrought they never questioned the reality of the Miracles themselves The Books of the New Testament which gave an account of these wondrous works were written soon after the things related had been done and these Books were in the hands of Heathens and Jews as well as Christians and neither the Jews nor the Heathens could deny but that such works had been done they only cavilled at the Power and Authority by which they were wrought which how groundless and unreasonable soever it were yet was the only evasion they could have when there were so many Christians if they had denied the matter of fact who did the like Miracles every day to confute them For II. The Apostles not only wrought Miracles themselves but conveyed to others a power of working them Thus when St. Peter was sent for to Cornelius the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word and they spake with Tongues and magnified God Act. x. 44 46. And so at Ephesus the Holy Ghost came on those whom St. Paul had laid his hands upon and they spake with Tongues and Prophesied Acts xix 6. And this miraculous Power was in that evident manner received by the laying on of the hands of the Apostles that Simon Magus offered them Money to purchase it Acts viii 18. Now as the Apostles could neither be deceived themselves in the Miracles which they did nor deceive those before whom they were performed and upon whom they were wrought so certainly they could never deceive such as they conferred this Gift upon When they not only did all sorts of Miracles and spoke all Languages themselves but conveyed a Power likewise upon others of speaking and doing as themselves did this was still a further evidence that all their pretences were real beyond all possibility of Deceit Deceivers would never have done their Miracles so openly and so frequently at such a time and place they would never have pretended to a gift of Tongues at a Festival where men from all parts of the world were met together so that they could attempt to speak in no strange Language but some present would have discovered them if they had not been able to speak it But they would least of all have pretended to enable others in an instant to work the same wonders and speak the same Tongues only by laying their hands upon them Men that would attempt all this though they were unable to perform it must be so far from being capable of discoursing and writing as the Apostles did that they must be void even of common sense and if they could succeed in their designs and make the world believe that they did act and speak in this manner when they did not they must have a Power over the understandings and senses of all with whom they conversed which is as strange even as this Miraculous Power it self They must work Miracles either upon the objects of sence or upon the sences themselves for in this case they could never have been able so much as to deceive without a Miracle and since God would never have empowered them to work Miracles to deceive we are certain that their Miracles were all wrought for that intent and purpose which they made profession of and to confirm that Doctrine which they taught And this Power of Miracles which now descended from Heaven upon the Apostles and was conveyed by them to others continued for some Ages in the Church and approved it self to the worst Enemies of our Religion in such instances as must make them most concerned to examine it (d) Minut. Faelix Lactant. lib. ii c. 15. c. 21. Several of the Primitive Writers witness that nothing was more notorious than that the Devils were wont to cry out for very anguish and torment when they were adjured by the true God (e) Apolog c. 23. and Tertullian made publick challenges to the Heathens that if they would but admit them this Tryal the Christians would undertake to make their most famous Deities acknowledge the Power of Christ and to make their very Gods confess themselves to be wicked and seducing Spirits or else they would be contented to be slain upon the place and this he wrote under persecutions and in Apologies dedicated and presented to their Persecutors themselves And indeed the Oracles in all parts of the World soon began to fail so as they had been never known to do before for their Power began to abate and decay upon the approach of our Saviours Birth into the World till by degrees they quite ceased which the Heathens wondered at and were much perplext about it as we learn from what (f) Cicer. de Divinat Plutarch de Oracul Defecta they have left written upon that subject And though Julian the Apostate used all the ways that he could think of to bring them into credit again he was never able to elect it but the most famous of them confess'd to him when he consulted it that a miraculous and Divine Power residing in the Remains of a Christian Martyr after his Death would suffer no answer to be given And it is so remarkable that I must mention it once more that when the same Apostate Emperor in hatred and despight to the Christian Religion became a great Patron of the Jews and encouraged them to re-build their Temple great balls of fire broke forth under the foundation and destroyed both the work it self and the persons employed in it And this we have related not only by several Christian Writers that lived about that time but by an (g) Ammian
own thoughts in a way much more free and unconfin'd than in this Life as they have more knowledge in a separate state so they must have fitter means to communicate it And since the happiness of Heaven consists in the Vision of God that is in the communications of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness God certainly can as well act upon the minds of Men in this mortal state tho we be less capable of receiving or observing the influences of his Spirit Since finite Spirits can act one upon another it is reasonable to believe that the Spirit of God the God of the Spirits of all flesh doth move and work upon the Spirits of Men that he enlightens their understandings and inclines their Wills by a secret Power and Influence in the methods of his ordinary Grace And he can likewise act upon the Wills and the understandings of some men with a clearer and more powerful Light and Force than he is pleased to do upon others in such a manner as to render them infallible in receiving and delivering his Pleasure and Commandments to the World He can so reveal himself to them by the Operations of his Holy Spirit as that they shall be infallibly assur'd of what is revealed to them and as infallibly assure others of it Which kind of Revelation is styl'd Inspiration because God doth not only move and actuate the minds of such men but vouchsafes to 'em the extraordinary Communications of his Spirit the Spirit then more especially may be liken'd to the Winds to which it is compared in Scripture for by strong convictions and forcible but gracious Impressious he breaths upon their Souls and infuses his Divine Truths into them But upon those to whom God did thus reveal himself by inward light and knowledge he did moreover bestow a power of giving external evidence by miraculous works that their pretences were real and that what they spoke was not of them but was reveal'd to them from God This inspiration the Apostles profest to have both in their Preaching and Writings and this evidence they gave of it In speaking of the Inspiration by which the Scriptures were written I. I shall shew wherein the Inspiration of the Writers of the Scriptures did consist or how far it extended II. I shall from thence make such inferences as may afford a sufficient answer to the objections alledged upon this subject I. I shall shew wherein the Inspiration of the Writers of the Scriptures did consist or how far it extended And here we must consider both the Matter and the Words of Scripture The Matter is either concerning things reveal'd and which could not be known but by Revelation or it is something which was the object of Sense and Matter of Fact as when the Apostles testify that our Saviour was crucify'd and rose again or lastly it is matter of Reason as discourses upon Moral subjects and inferences made from things reveal'd or from matter of Fact God who is a Spirit can speak as intelligibly to the spirits and minds of Men as Men can speak to the ear and in things which could not be known but by Revelation the notions were suggested and infused into the minds of the Apostles and Prophets by the Holy Ghost but they might be left to put them into their ow 〈◊〉 * Praeterea scito unumquemque Prophetam pecuâ—iare quid habere ea lingua eaque loquendi ratione quae ipsi est familiaris consueta ipsum impelli à Prophetia sua ad loquendum ei qui intelligit ipsum Maimon More Nevoch Part 2. c. 29. Words being so directed in the use of them as to give infallibly the sense and full importance of the Revelation In matters of Fact their Memories were according to our Saviours promise assisted and confirm'd In matters of Discourse or Reasoning either from their own natural Notions or from things Reveal'd or from matters of Fact their understandings were enlightned and their Judgments strengthned And still in all cases their natural Faculties were so supported and guided both in their Notions and Words as that nothing should come into their Writings but what is infallibly true They had always the use of their Faculties tho under the infallible Direction and Conduct of the Holy Ghost and in things that were the proper objects of their faculties the Holy Ghost might only support and guide them as in matters of sense and natural Reason and Memory and in their Words and Style to express all these But in things of an higher Nature which were above their faculties and which they could have no knowledge of but from Revelation the things themselves were infused tho the words in most cases might be their own but they were preserv'd from error in the use of them by that Spirit who was to guide them into all Truth For tho the several Writers of the Scriptures might be allowed to use their own Words and Style yet it was under the infallible guidance and influence of the Spirit as when a man is left to the use of his own Hand or manner of Writing but is directed in the Sense and Orthography by one who dictates to him or assists him with his help where it is needful Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God 2 Tim. 3.16 The Holy Ghost saith by the Psalmist to day if ye will hear his Voice Hebr. 3.7 David saith of himself the Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my Tongue 2 Sam. 23.2 And God is said to speak by the hand of Moses his servant and by the hand of his servant Ahijah the Prophet 1 Kings 8.53.14.18 By which it appears that he used the Prophets as his Instruments in revealing his Will For as Miracles were by the immediate power of God though wrought by the hands of men so the Revelations were of God though spoken or written by the Prophets and Apostles But though God used them as his Instruments yet not as mechanical but as rational Instruments and as in working their Miracles they were not always necessarily determined to the place or to the persons on whom they were wrought but in general were guided to work them when they were proper and seasonable and the Actions by which they wrought them were their own though the power that accompanied them was of God so in their Doctrines they might be permitted to use their own Words and Phrases and to be guided by prudential Motives as to time and place and persons with a directive power only over them to speak and write nothing but infallible truth upon such occasions and in such circumstances as might answer the end of their Mission with which they were entrusted God promised Moses when he sent him to Pharaoh that he would be with his mouth and with Aaron's mouth and would
that hearest Prayer unto thee shall all Flesh come Ps lxv 2. And all Flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer the mighty one of Jacob Isa xlix 26. All Flesh shall come to worship before me saith the Lord Isa lxvi 23. And all Flesh shall see the Salvation of God Luke iii. 6. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh Acts ii 17. Joel ii 28. By the works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified Galat. ii 16. And we say in our own Language any Body thinks or any Body understands tho' we all know it is the Soul and not the Body which thinks and understands It is very usual in other Books and very agreeable to the stile of Scripture and to the common speech and sense of Men for those Actions of a Person to be attributed to one of the united Natures which could be perform'd only in the other And the Union between the Godhead and the Manhood being like that which is between the Soul and the Body the Son of God is said to have Suffered and the Son of Man to have come down from Heaven not that the Godhead Suffered or that the Humane Nature of Christ was in Heaven before his Incarnation but according to the usual stile of Scripture the Union between the Divine and Humane Natures entitles the Person consisting of them both under the denomination of either Nature to that which was done in the other tho' as the Humane Nature did not partake of the perfections of the Divine so neither did the Divine Nature partake of the sufferings of the Humane But both Natures being personally united the person is sometimes denoted by one and sometimes by the other Nature All the Objections against the Incarnation of the Son of God proceed upon the like mistake with theirs who are apt to imagine that it is unworthy of God to be every where and in all places to behold and be present at the worst of Actions as if the Sun's brightness would not be the more resplendent and glorious if it could penetrate into the obscurest corners and recesses of the Earth or as if his Rays could be sullied and defiled by the foulness of any Object which they shine upon And if it be no diminution to God's Infinite Glory and Majesty to be Omnipresent it can be none to be more nearly and even Personally united to some part of the Creation and therefore it cannot be unworthy of God to be so united to the Humane Nature to manifest his love and favour and extend his goodness to Mankind As God is every where present so he is in a more especial manner present in some places than in others by the acts of his Power or of his Grace and Favour and he has vouchsafed a more especial presence to some Persons than to others and thus he was present with his Prophets who were sent to prepare for and foretell Christ's coming But he was personally united to the Humane Nature of Christ And this is the highest Honour and Advancement to our Nature for God thus to assume it but it can be no diminution to the Divine Majesty because God continues as he was from all Eternity without any alteration only by his personal Presence and Union with our Humane Nature he causes all the performances and sufferings of it to be meritorious for the Salvation of Mankind The Son of God did not so come down from Heaven as to be no longer there but to forsake his Father's Kingdom He still continued in Heaven in the same Bliss and Glory that he enjoy'd with his Father from all Eternity tho' he so manifested himself to the World as to come and abide in it by assuming our Humane Nature Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Joh. iii. 13. No Man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man which is in Heaven He who fills Heaven and Earth with his presence was still in Heaven as much as ever with respect to his Godhead tho' he made a more peculiar residence than he had before done on Earth by dwelling in our Nature here The Son of God who is at all times every where present is yet in a peculiar manner present where ever he is pleas'd to manifest himself by peculiar acts of his goodness and power as he was pleas'd to do in a most stupendous manner in that Flesh which he took upon him of the Blessed Virgin And it cannot be thought inconsistent with the Majesty of God to actuate the Humane Nature and to be joyned in the most strict and vital union with it supposing God only to act upon it and not to be acted upon by it nor to suffer the miseries and feel the pains which the Humane Nature endures which would be Blasphemy to assert of the Divine Nature of Christ but to be in Heaven still in his sull Power and Majesty But some Man will say how is this Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ made or wherein doth it consist To whom we may reply as our Saviour sometimes did to the Scribes and Pharisees by asking another Question and enquiring how the Body and Soul in Man are united or how God is present in all places and how in him we live and move and have our Being And if no Man can tell how these things are tho' no Man can deny the truth and reality of them then it is not to be expected that we should be able to tell how the union between the Divine and the Humane Nature in Christ is made or in what it consists We must acknowledge it a Mystery which it is above any Man's capacity to explain but that there is such an union we learn from the Scriptures and thither we appeal for the truth of it And the putting such Questions argues either a great mind to cavil or great inconsideration and shortness of thought For what Man is there pretending to Reason and Argument of so little observation as not to take notice that of all the things which we daily see and perceive to be in the World the nature and manner of existence of very few or rather of none of them is fully understood by us It is sufficient for us to know that great Reasons may be given for this dispensation of the Son of God Incarnate and that no Material Objection can be framed against it Secondly No other way as far as we can apprehend could have been so proper and expedient as the Incarnation of the Son of God to procure the Salvation of Mankind and therefore none could so well become the Divine Wisdom and Goodness The proof of this must depend upon the Reasons for Christ's coming into the World and they are all comprehended in this one thing the abolishing or taking away of Sin And ye know that he was manifested to take away our Sins and in him is no Sin 1 Joh. iii. 5. We are
and Instruments whereby he is pleas'd to convey into our Souls the blessed Influences of his Holy Spirit Or lastly they may be consider'd as visible Rites whereby we are admitted into the visible Society of Christ's Church or profess our Communion with it And in all these respects it will appear how beneficial and requisite the Institution of Sacraments is and how fitting it is that God in his Dispensations with Men should appoint something outward and visible to be done or received by them I. Ceremonies and Rites of Initiation and of Worship have been Instituted in all Religions which is Evidence sufficient that the Nature of Man requires them and that our Worship cannot be wholly Mental and Spiritual And God is pleas'd in his Dealings with Mankind to condescend to their Capacities to ascribe to himself their Passions to allude to their Customs and to make use of such Means and Methods as Men are accustomed to in their Dealings with one another He best understands Humane Nature and knows all the dispositions and tendencies of it he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are dust Ps ciii 14. He considers that we are Flesh as well as Spirit he fully comprehends the strict Union between the Soul and the Body and the cause and manner of it and how great influence the one hath upon the other in their several Operations he planted in us all our Powers and Faculties and sees all their Motions and Inclinations the secret Springs of Action and Passion and has accordingly fitted and proportioned the Institution of his Laws and Ordinances We see among Men that they are not content only to understand one anothers Meaning or to express their Minds in words tho' they be the most solemn and significant but are wont to use some Ceremony and Solemnity of Action and Circumstances in matters of great Importance because this makes greater impression upon the Mind and lays upon it a more forcible and lasting engagement by taking in the Senses and Passions as Parties concerned with it and this is by experience found to have the best effect to all the ends and purposes of Agreement and Obligation between Men. Oaths themselves are not found to be so secure to be rely'd upon when they are only pronounc'd as when they are taken with such Circumstances of words and gesture as may create an awe and reverence in those who take them For the manner and circumstances in which any action is done raise and fix the Attention and express the Mind and Design of the Doer and are better retain'd in the Memory and work more upon the Will and Affections than the Action of itself can do This Orators very well understand for the Art of Rhetorick is almost nothing else but a skilfull management of the circumstances of actions to the advantage of a Cause And Philosophy informs us that the evil or goodness of Actions depends chiefly upon their Circumstances from whence we learn what the intention of the Mind is and to what degree of Resolution it came in the performance of any Action If an Action be performed at a solemn time and place in the presence of Witnesses met together for that very purpose upon great deliberation with such words and gestures as are very significant to express our full Design and Intention all these Circumstances consider'd make it much more our own proper Act and Deed than if it were done without them tho' the Intention were the same For what we declare before others to be our mind and purpose to do or undertake we cannot but think our selves bound to under more obligations than if we barely design'd it or promis'd it only to the Persons concern'd because the design of declaring it is to lay upon our selves a farther obligation to perform it and to call others as Witnesses against us if we neglect the performance of it and since our Resolution may be declar'd as well by Actions as by Words he that expresses his Resolution both these ways shews a farther design to oblige himself than if he should only use words to express it and if the Circumstances of Actions be stated and solemn and significant then all the ways and means concurr by which it is possible for Men to declare and express their Minds in any Case and to oblige themselves to the performance of any Covenant Now Sacraments are the Seals of the Covenant between God and Man and when God is pleas'd to receive Men into Covenant with himself it is requisite that Men should not barely give their assent to the Terms and Conditions of it and declare that they will undertake them but it is farther necessary that this should be done with all the Solemnity of Words and Actions that may engage them to the performance of it and render them inexcusable if they transgress it it is fitting it should be entred into and renewed in the presence of Witnesses that the Words should be Solemn and the Actions Significant and that nothing should be wanting which may testifie the Sincerity and secure the Fidelity of the Undertakers For if Covenants between Man and Man be made with all the formality of Witnesses and Hands and Seals and Delivery in solemn and express words if Men know themselves too well to trust one another without all this Solemnity it may well be expected that when God is pleas'd to permit them to enter into Covenant with himself he should not receive them under less Obligations of Caution and Security for their Integrity than Men are wont to use amongst themselves For every breach of Covenant with him is infinitely more affronting and sinful than any breach of Covenant with Man can be and therefore God who will not be mocked has appointed the most effectual Means to secure his Laws from contempt he knows the deceitfulness of Man's heart how perverse and stubborn it is especially in things of such a Nature as these are of to which Men are obliged by that Promise and Vow that they are required to make to him and that all the Restraints and all the Remembrances which Words or Actions can afford are little enough to keep Men in any tolerable measure to their Duty God was pleas'd to confirm his Promise to Abraham with an Oath and therein shew'd himself willing to give all the assurance that the most Incredulous Man can desire of the fix'd and unalterable stedfastness of his purpose and the Immutability of his Council that we might have a strong Consolation Heb. vi 17 18. And when God himself is pleas'd so far to condescend for our comfort and satisfaction it is most reasonable that he should oblige us to perform our part of the Covenant by all the ways that may put us in remembrance of our Duty and make us faithful and constant in the performance of it And this could be effected by no better Means than by outward Acts and visible Signs to testifie and profess in the most serious and solemn
Doctrine of the Resurrection would be very credible and certain too whatever other Objections might be urged against it which yet are not in themselves so formidable as they may be imagined to be All the Objections against the Resurrection of the Dead are either against the Resurrection of Bodies after their Corruption and Dissolution or against the Resurrection of the same Bodies of Men which they had before their Death because the parts of our Bodies are in a perpetual Change and Flux here and after Death by several Accidents as by the devouring of Humane Bodies by Men or by Fish or other Creatures which are afterwards eaten by Men it may come to pass that the same parts which Compounded one Man's Body shall afterwards belong to anothers and yet in the Resurrection they can belong but to one of these Bodies But 1. Bodies after their Corruption and the Dissolution of the Parts which compose them may be restored to Life by the Re-union of these Parts again We have several Instances of this in Natural Philosophy that Bodies divided into never so minute Parts tho' these Parts be mix'd and confounded with the Parts of other Bodies may by Chymical Operations be reduced to their former State and Condition and which is of nearer affinity to the Subject in hand after the Ashes of a Plant have been sown in a Garden fairer and larger Plants have sprung up than had been known of that kind in the place where the Experiment was made And (l) Mr. Boyle 's Consideration about the Possibility of the Resurrection Mr. Boyle thinks it scarce to be imagined what Expedients to reproduce Bodies a further Discovery of the Mysteries of Art and Nature may lead us Mortals to And much less says he can our dim and narrow Knowledge determine what means even Physical ones the most wise Author of Nature and absolute Governour of the World is able to employ to bring the Resurrection to pass And where the powers of Nature fail we know that God is Infinite and can want no means to effect whatever he pleases 2. We may rise with the same Bodies which we have here notwithstanding any Change or Flux of the parts of our Bodies while we live or any Accidents after Death It is agreeable to Reason and to the Observations of Philosophers and Physicians to believe that the Bones and Muscles and Nerves and all the Essential constituent Parts of Humane Bodies are of so firm and solid a substance as to suffer little Alteration during our Lives when once they are come to their full growth and proportion but to continue the same till we die and the Alterations which they undergo before Men come to their full Stature is by Addition of parts not by the diminution of those wherewith we are born It appears from a late Discourse of a (m) Dr. Haver's Osteolog 2d Discourse of Accretion and Nutrition Learned Physician that Nutrition is a supply of the Fluid Parts and that the proper Substance of the Solid Parts suffers no Diminution but in some extraordinary Cases and therefore can stand in no need of Reparation but in such a Case For the whole Body is Vascular or made up of Vessels and Pipes replenished with their several Substances so that in an Atrophy the Fibres become dry and the Nerves and Vessels are contracted and shrunk for want of the Spirits and Juices and Liquors which before filled and distended them But the Solid Parts are of so durable a Substance that they can suffer no Diminution but by such Corrosives to dissolve them as must produce Ulcers and such as would affect the Fibres with so intolerable Pains that the Torments of the Stone and Gout would be moderate and easie to them which in a Consumption would be Universal in all parts of the Body whereas there is no such Symptom in any Part and in the greatest Consumptions the Bones are found to retain their entire Bigness tho' a piece of Bone is sooner Dissolved by a Corrosive Liquor such as Aqua-Fortis than Muscular Fibres of equal quantity or weight It is wont to be observ'd upon this Subject that when the Change of Parts is gradual and in the course of some Years the Body may still be the same as it could not be if the Change were made all at once A Ship or House remains the same tho' it be never so often repaired and tho' the Materials in Succession of Time be all or most of them renewed whereas if it should be taken to pieces all at once and all the Materials should be changed and new Materials of the same Figure and Dimensions should be exactly in the same manner framed and built up together in their stead these would make another House or Ship and not the same that was before But when the Parts which constitute the Humane Body and give it the Denomination of the Body of this or that individual Man continue the same the same Person has the same Body in his Old Age that he had in his Youth as truly as he has the same Body in Sickness which he had in Health and the same under the Languishings of a Consumption which he had in his greatest Vigour and Strength For the Change is only in the variable and accidental Parts which are not necessary to constitute the Body of such a Man and the necessary constituent Parts tho' they were changed or altered as in some very rare cases they may be being so few in Comparison of the rest which make up the Bulk of a Man's Body can hardly be supposed by the devouring of Canibals or by any other Accident to become the constituent Parts of any other Man's Body (n) Sanctor De staticâ Medicinà Sect. 1. Aph. vi lix lx Sect. iii. Aph. x. Sanctorius from his Statick Experiments has Observed that a very inconsiderable part of what we eat is turned to Nourishment and from the small proportion which the Necessary constituent Parts bear to the rest and the unfitness of them as of Bones c. to nourish it may be concluded that little or nothing of that which turns to Nourishment can be supposed to be of those constituent Parts and considering further the great Changes which happen in our Bodies in the continual Flux of Parts and the small Proportion again which the constituent or necessary essential Parts have to the rest we may conclude supposing those parts as well as others to suffer Alteration that it is the greatest odds that the constituent Parts which turn to Nourishment do not by that Nourishment happen to belong to the constituent Parts of the Mans Body who is nourished by them when he comes to die So that if a Man should live wholly upon Humane Flesh which it is not to be believed that ever any Man did yet it would perhaps be above an Hundred to one whether any constituent Part of his Body were made up when he died of the constituent Parts of any